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Honest bread - 100% whole-wheat desem bread and some country bread

March 27, 2012 - 3:55am

PiPs

Honest bread - 100% whole-wheat desem bread and some country bread

The idea of honest bread and its making found its way into my thinking over the weekend. I find myself slipping more and more into this way of baking. Using less but wanting more from it. I didn’t bake any differently to past weekends yet I felt more connected and relaxed throughout the process. The slightly cooler temperatures certainly helped both my peace of mind and the resulting bread. The kitchen felt less frantic.

I haven’t been pushing the envelope. Just practising consistency while noticing and adapting to the subtle differences the change of seasons is bringing. Perhaps this might be seen as boring or lazy … nevertheless I enjoyed it thoroughly and it keeps us well fed.

I baked two small batches of 100 per cent whole-wheat desem bread and country breads on the weekend. This will feed the family during the week and left us with a loaf to take away on a picnic to a country market in the northern New South Wales town of Bangalow. We had the best handmade organic doughnuts while wandering through the markets. One of the country breads was given to Nat’s parents on our trip home to help ease their struggling brought on by home renovations.

I have been trying a new method of milling where the flour is constantly stirred and moved around in the bowl as it falls from the mill. I want to disperse the heat as quickly as possible and noticed a definite improvement in the time it took for the flour to cool. Whether this translates into the final bread I really have no idea. Any ideas? I sifted the wheat flour for the country bread as normal and retained the bran for coating the desem loaves.

Mixing the desem starter

Autolyse and desem starter

Squeezing in desem starter

Stretch-and-fold

100% Whole-wheat Desem

Formula

Overview

Weight

%

Total dough weight

2000g

Total flour

1081g

100%

Total water

919g

85%

Total salt

20g

1.8%

Prefermented flour

162g

15%

Desem starter build – 10 hrs 18-20°C

Starter

61g

50%

Freshly milled organic wheat flour

122g

100%

Water

61g

50%

Final dough

Desem starter

243g

26%

Freshly milled organic wheat flour

919g

100%

Water

838g

91%

Salt

20g

2%

Method

Mix desem starter and leave to ferment for 10-12 hours at 18-20°C

Mill flour and allow to cool to room temperature before mixing with water (hold back 50 grams of water) and autolyse for a minimum of one hour.

Add levain to autolyse then knead (French fold) 5 mins. Return the dough to a bowl and add salt and remaining 50 grams of water and squeeze through bread to incorporate (dough will separate then come back together smoothly) then knead a further 10 mins.

Bulk ferment two and a half hours with three stretch-and-fold 30 mins apart.

Preshape. Bench rest 20 mins. Shape.

Final proof was for 1.5 hours at 24°C

Bake in a preheated dutch oven at 250°C for 10 mins then reduce temperature to 200°C and bake a further 10 mins. Remove bread from the dutch oven and continue to bake on a stone for a further 20mins to ensure even browning.

I am continuing to expand the desem starter with one build straight from the fridge and as the overnight temperature continues to cool the desem starter is achieving a more controlled fermentation and sweeter aroma by the following morning. I have been looking forward to this kind of weather all summer and it is so nice to not have sweating dough racing away from me into a sticky mess. I even had to increase proofing times by an extra half-an-hour for this bake.

For an aesthetic change to previous desem loaves I baked these without slashing in a dutch oven after coating them in bran sifted from the country breads. I was really surprised with the increased oven spring … quite possibly the best I have had with this form of bread.

Country bread baking

The most telling tale that the cooling temperatures are affecting the bread came with the cutting and tasting. Nat took a bite and then looked at me and asked quite seriously, ‘Have you added anything else to this … it tastes sweet?’ Not only does it taste sweet, but you can smell the sweetness in the kitchen while slicing through a loaf. The crust is delicate with the bran coating adding a crunchy contrast to the soft crumb within.

So far we have eaten it with Nat’s special ‘sick soup’, with honey and ricotta, toasted with peanut butter, with plum jam, with apricot jam … and the list goes on and on.

I had to smile when you described your Seigle d’Auvergne - This is about as honest a loaf as I can imagine making..and very hearty too.

Oh boy, I have to roll my eyes whenever I see the word 'Artisan' ... feels very hijacked and overused now ... and then I have a smile to myself when I see the endless debates over what it might actually mean ... sigh

Hi Phil, a really great bread. I'd really like to have such an open crumb with wholemeal flour. Unfortunately hard wheat grains are impossible to get here and wholemeal manitoba isn't for sale, either.

You inverted the digits of the starter ingredients, while the percentages are correct.

Thanks for your kind comment and pick-up in the formula ... yeah I had mixed up the starter build, the weights were right, but were listed the wrong way around - all fixed now.

I used a biodynamic white winter wheat from South Australia for these breads. It's protein level is listed at 13% on the specs but I don't think it is quite as strong as the wheat we get in Queensland or Northern New South Wales. It will break down if its fermented or soaked to long. It also produces a much softer crumb with more flavour ... the only problem being is that it is not as local a product as I would like. Sorry to hear you are unable to source grains or flour to your liking.

bread Phil. Bread, pictures and write up are very well done as usual. I was thinking of you this morning anyway as I was having your green and purple super hero Sage and Walnut bread for breakfast toasted.

And I said 'what could possibly be better?' as I was reading your post.......I think I found it........

Your toasted bread with home made purple bramble, blueberry and apple jam with the same in homemade Greek yogurt. So, thanks for for a great breakfast too! The perfect accessory to read your post. Cheers

The breads and photographies are just pure eye-candy, Phil. I particularly like the close-ups of the slashes, at the bottom of your blog post.

Funny you mention that the loaves come out tasting sweet - is this due to the wheat you're using, Phil? My experience with whole-wheat breads like this, is a slightly earthy, bitter flavour note. This is probably a characteristic of the red wheat that is available up north, where I'm based?

The most telling tale that the cooling temperatures are affecting the bread came with the cutting and tasting. Nat took a bite and then looked at me and asked quite seriously, ‘Have you added anything else to this … it tastes sweet?’ Not only does it taste sweet, but you can smell the sweetness in the kitchen while slicing through a loaf.

So rather than being told to RTFM, I deferred. OTOH, wholemeal flour retains the germ. Germ contains some oil (e.g., wheat germ goes rancid). So perhaps freshly milled (recently harvested -- germ can go rancid in the intact grain, I assume) flour has yet to 'turn' as most ww flour has at least begun to by the time we purchase it.

Or, as Phil suggests, does coolness sweeten SD/desem? Good to know, if so.

I think the sweetness comes from a few factors ... using a white winter wheat and having it freshly milled plus cooler temperatures and appropriate fermentation length. I mean appropriate as I am not trying to extend the length of the process as I believe this leads to sourness and unpleasant bitterness in whole-wheat breads - especially naturally leavened breads.

The combination of freshly milled grains and cool temperatures brings about a really unique aroma to the starter. I notice this most when refreshing the starter from the fridge - sweet and fruity . Have you ever tasted flour still warm from a mill? It has a sweet flavour to it as well.

I haven't had the chance to use red wheat but I have heard that it does have a stronger and perhaps bitter flavour to the bran.

Probably not as the temp. in the house on most summer days is in the mid 70'sF/21°-25°C which is my preferred proofing temp. There are also days when it gets above that and I then move leavens and dough into the basement where it is a bit cooler.

Might use proofer for fermenting other things.....I recently made buttermilk and sour cream....yogurt is beckoning....all sorts of possibilities on the horizon :-)

You asked about the temperature of the flour from the Komo. I haven't specifically measured the temp of the flour, but just poking a finger into the fresh milled flour, it is on the warm side. I've also been curious about it. While I am no expert, it seems the consensus is that lower temp during milling is "better", but I haven't noticed any major difference in the final result. Have you tried chilling the berries beforehand? For some reason, I got into the habit of refrigerating a batch of berries I plan to mill in a sealed container (tossing it in the kitchen fridge overnight), prior to milling. For me, the Komo has no problems with milling chilled berries - the flour seems to be the same consistency and is a lot cooler coming out of the spigot.

I found the flour from the Komo much warmer than what my fathers Hawos mill produces. The Komo has smaller stones and a bigger motor which seem to generate heat quicker so I have been doing the same as you and milling grains that have been stored in the fridge. This has helped immensely ... but found the flour would still hold a lot of heat ... tossing/stirring the flour seems to dissapate it. If I wasn't so busy I would experiment and take some temperature readings.

Understood. With non-chilled berries, after milling a batch, if I hold the container of flour in my hands, I can feel the heat pretty well. Even before I read on TFL that colder is better, it didn't seem quite right. A bit too warm.

As far as how it affects final product, unfortunately I can't say, and even more it might be pretty subjective conclusion, depending on the person, but, that said...

It might be interesting to try a head-to-head test:

1) Mill some room-temp berries and immediately use for a bread.

2) Mill some chilled berries and make the same exact bread.

Preferably a 100% whole-berry bread, to get a good comparison.

I've also wondered about the aspects of 'green flour' and whether to age fresh milled flour. I've done both, and while I have no scientific evidence, I don't think it really matters for 100% whole-grain breads... maybe it does for large-scale retail production of white-flours ... some people have commented about "Thiols" and stuff, degrading gluten if not properly oxygenated for a while after initial milling... but I haven't encountered that in my home environment... I can mill up a bunch of 100% unsifted whole-wheat flour, use it immediately (within a day), and the gluten works just fine... :)

I haven't noticed much difference in the dough handling using non-aged flour, apart from the fact that I need a bit more water in the dough and it does to tend to ferment a little quicker. Even the sifted flours seem to work reasonably well - perhaps just a little stickier at shaping time.

The berries were not refrigerated before hand. (Would have taken more planning on my part as I don't normally refrigerate the grains prior to milling.)

I did refrigerate the ground flour to cool it faster.

I did not stir it as it came out of the hopper - I keep the hopper covered with a light towel to keep the dust from spreading all over the place. :-0

Tomorrow, if I remember, I will refrigerate the berries before milling and see what the end result is.

I don't generally worry about the temp. of the grain and am not sure how much of a difference it makes in the end so this is an interesting experiment for me. In the winter I prefer the flour warm as it takes the chill off of everything and helps with maintaining my dough temp. with mixing and the rest period after 1st mix when our house is chilly. I usually mill it and immediately add it to the water and leaven. Today things will be cooler.

I will report back on any progress, or lack thereof, tomorrow with cooled berries.....

Right with you on the season change. It's been around 24C in my kitchen since I arrived back from SE Asia (5 days ago), which is a stark contrast to the 32+ we were getting when I left. Baking is so much more pleasurable at moderate temps.

I've wanted to make a desem for several years, and your beautiful loaves have finely gotten me going! I'm activating my starter and will mix the desem levain tomorrow evening. I do have one questions, though: Your procedure looks like you do not proof the loaves at all, but bake them immediately after shaping. Is that true? If not, could you describe your proofing procedure, please?

Dear oh dear ... I dropped the ball a bit with the formula this time :) ... rushing. I have updated it now, thanks.

Yes they were proofed in cloth lined baskets after coating with bran. The final proof for these was approx 1.5hrs at 24C. During summer they were proofing in just under an hour ... I watch them like a hawk :)

I find my flour quite thirsty so you may need to adjust the hydration. Are you milling your flour for the desem?

The only mill I have is the attachment for my KitchenAid. It doesn't grind flour as fine as I think it should be for the desem, so I am going to use some very nice, very finely ground organic WW flour from Central Milling. Am I correct in assuming that finely milled flour is called for?

Another question: Do you keep a desem starter going, or do you elaborate a WW levain from another starter each time you make a desem loaf? I get the impression that desems' special flavor depends on keeping a very firm, WW-fed starter going over many feedings. What's your view?

I have read a few conflicting thoughts on how fine the flour should be milled. In Thom Leonard's bread book he mentions that a finer flour produces a lighter loaf but he prefers a slightly coarser grind. I tend to mill finely as I like the lighter texture. You could always mix some coarse fresh milled flour in with the Central milling flour for a nice combination. You may need to reduce the hydration if not using freshly milled flour - perhaps 80% Hydration?

My desem starter is my main starter. I sometimes will elaborate off it to produce liquid preferment or rye starters but always keep the storage starter a pure desem. It is easy for me to maintain and it produces minimal waste. I agree with you that it it would take a few feedings at the correct temperature and hydration to produce the flavour, but also freshly milled flour is very important to this flavour as well. I had maintained a desem starter in the past using store bought wholemeal and I didn't manage the flavours and aromas that it produces now after milling fresh flour.

My dough is autolysing at this moment. I am using the CM WW flour. I haven't adjusted the hydration, but we'll see what the consistency is after I add the levain and the salt. This flour is pretty absorbant, so I'm betting no adjustment will be needed.

Funny you mentioned stirring your flour as it gets milled, i do just that! I also believe it disspiates the heat generated by milling action, and will result to some extent in better flour, especially if you mill at fine setting. However, i mill my wheats cold (usually crack them and refrigerate them, then remill them cold), as this reduces the temperature of the flour. I however mill 2 kg. of wheat at a time, so the stones do eventually heat up.

Ha Ha ... I don't think my hands are anywhere as skilled as his though :)

I think I will be using the stirring technique from now on ... I will usually mill a batch of flour then wait for an hour or so before milling the next batch to let the stones cool ... and give the house a break form the noise :)

Hi Phil, I had to tell you that I found your pictures so informative. It is very useful to know what the dough looks like at the various steps, including the finished breads, crumb and all. I don't do any milling, so my question will probably sound naive. I wonder if freezing the wheat berries would be useful in keeping flour temerature down? They would be cooler starting out, than refrigerated, by about 40 degrees. Ray

Thats great that the photos are so informative ... I am a visual person so I find that kind of reference really handy. I rarely cook or bake things that have no photos of processes or a finished product.

You could keep them in a freezer but I had people mention that they can produce condensation when they hit room temperature which may interfere with the milling. I have also read that the bran is more likely to shatter rather than stay in larger pieces ... all heresay though. These kind of small stones quickly start heating up and storing heat when the milling begins so there is only so much one can do :)

I've always flirted with the idea of keeping a desem starter, but I kept postponing the moment... until I saw your post. So yesterday I took a small amount of my white starter and transformed it in a whole wheat 50% hydration, coverd it in wheat flour and put it in a container in the fridge. I don't know what to do further... can you help me with instructions how to take care of it? How often should I feed it and what proportions, exactly? I was thinking 20g desem starter, 20water, 40 WW flour, for example, is ok? once a week, or twice? feed it and put it imediately in the fridge.

How many feeds do you think it will need before I can use it to make your formula (keeping in mind that I made it from a white starter 100% hydration)

My desem starter may behave a little differently as it is fed freshly milled flour and thus may be a bit more active ... but this is how I maintain it ...

I keep a 200g ball of starter (1:1:2 ratio) in a closed jar covered and surrounded by flour. This jar is kept in the fridge for most of the week.

On a tuesday evening I remove the starter and refresh it using 50g starter:50g water:100g flour (1:1:2 ratio) and leave it outside in the cool at 18-20C for 10-12 hours. On Wednesday morning I refresh it again at the same ratio then place it directly in the fridge. It will stay the fridge until Friday night when I expand it again using the 1:1:2 ratio for baking on the Saturday morning. (usually 125g starter:125g water:250g flour) This will give me enough for 4 loaves and 50g to continue the starter. The starter is then fed and placed into the fridge on Saturday morning until Tuesday evening.

The starter is pretty tolerant. I can miss the Tueday feeding if I am super busy and it is happy enough, but doesn't smell as sweet.

I don't press the flour firmly around it in the jar. I just tap the jar on the bench to allow ther flour to settle. I can then watch the top of the flour crack and move upwards as the starter expands within it. It gives me a pretty good clue to how the starter is developing.

When it is time to expand or refresh I tip the flour out of the jar into a container and brush the flour off the desem ball. It will have a soft crust around it. I cut the ball in half and then peel off the crust and use the soft sweet insides. I dissolve the required amount of starter in water before adding the flour.

A couple of notes on this: I like to make sure sure that the flour that surrounds it in the jar is at room temperature before placing it in the fridge. This gives the starter some time to start developing before the fridge cools it too much. I usually mill the flour a few minutes before feeding so I can allow it to cool to room temperature. I also feed the starter with filtered water.

Perhaps 3 feeds would be enough for your starter??? ... its a bit hard to say really :)

Hope this helps ... it probably seems complicated ... so if you have any more questions I am happy to help.

Are you tossing out 150g of starter at each refreshment so that total amount in refrig. stays a constant 200g except for your final feed that ups the wt. to 500g?

Why do you start the process on Tue. instead of waiting until Thursday and then doing them back to back at room temp. as you do the first feed on Tues?

Thanks for the clarification.

Janet

P.S.

I had a bit of extra starter yesterday and I made a small loaf (500g only) of the desem. Very nice and light loaf indeed. I changed a couple of things to fit my schedule - made a soaker out of the bulk of the flour and water and a 4g of the salt the night before and I used my usual leaven build schedule at 60% HL rather than yours at 50% - just too stiff for my hands these days....) Other than that I followed your schedule but mine took a bit longer to proof.

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